


Fallen Between Cracks

by ToxicPanda (orphan_account)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, F/F, Humanstuck, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-01 02:04:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4001749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ToxicPanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You wake up to the soft sound of rain, even though seconds before you could have sworn it was the beating of fists on hard, cold metal.</p><p>Dave Strider, age nineteen and counting, embarks on a journey that will change his life in more ways than one. It just might be too hot to handle, also, in more ways than one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first Homestuck fanfic!! I've had this idea for an au for awhile now so I'm glad I'm finally getting around to writing and uploading it!! I appreciate everyone who reads this and I hope to keep up with it and make this a good, long lasting fanfic. Hope you enjoy!

You wake up to the soft sound of rain, even though seconds before you could have sworn it was the beating of fists on hard, cold metal.   
  
You didn't have nightmares often. Heck, you didn't even dream often. Lately, though, it seemed almost every time you closed your eyes, you could see the blurred visage of a decaying face lunging towards you.   
  
Now, you were staring at the cracks in the ceiling above you, heart still racing and clammy fingers tightly gripping the thin sheet cocooned around your body.   
  
Heaving a shaky sigh, you sat up straight. The pillow and bed were damp with sweat, despite the cool air of the broken down apartment in which you were living. There wasn't much  in the small room: a duffel bag and backpack pushed up against one of the moldy, grey walls, two sliding doors of a closet, an old nightstand adjacent to the single mattress in the room, which could only afford to have a sheet, a small, yet slightly thicker, blanket (seeming to have been tossed off of the bed in your sleep) and a pillow.   
  
It was then you realized your throat was a little dry. You started to go towards the nightstand, which had a water bottle on it, but you only had to lift it up before realizing it was empty. You set it back down and card a hand through your platinum blond hair. What luck you had.   
  
You resist the urge to groan loudly as you slink into the the living room of your apartment, which wasn't much better looking than your room. A coffee table with a small radio on it, a window without curtains, and an old couch that held your sleeping guardian / sibling. He was snoring rather loudly, and was sleeping in a weird position, with one arm tucked under him and the other dangling off of the couch. As funny as the sight was, you couldn't bring yourself to laugh through your thirst and mild stress from the nightmare you just had.   
  
Squatting down by the couch, you jabbed a finger into his chest. "Hey, bro."  
  
No answer. How rude.   
  
You poked him again, a little harder this time. He shifted a bit, but continued to snore. Starting to feel a little annoyed, you used two fingers this time as you dug them into his stomach. "Bro, wake up!"  
  
He yelped and grabbed your wrist instinctively, and you were already on your feet again yourself. Once he recognized it was just you, he released your wrist with a miffed huff of breath. "What're you doin' up, 'lil man, it's like-" He glanced down at an imaginary watch on his wrist. "-two in the mornin'. "  
  
"I'm outta water." You reply. "Can I have some of yours? I'm hella thirsty."  
  
"Shit, man, I told ya to save that stuff." He turned over on his side so that he was no longer facing you. "Your own fault, little dude. Go back to bed. You'll just have to wait for the next set of rations."  
  
"But bro-"  
  
"Bed." Came his muffled voice, and within a matter of seconds, the snoring resumed.   
  
You groaned, as loud as you could this time, just to spite your jackass of a brother. He had been telling you the entire week to properly save the water and food you had been given, but you were bad at listening, and even worse at holding yourself back when your stomach got the better of you.   
  
With the way rations worked around this place, you'd have to wait another four days until you could get more water. You luckily still had some food left, though very little of it. Hopefully you could make it until Tuesday. Hopefully.   
  
According to the minuscule amount if news at the time, about fifteen years ago a virus broke out among the western part of the US. Nobody is sure where or how it started, and you aren't absolutely sure on the details yourself. When things started to out of control, as no one knew how to cure infected people at the time, sectors were set up to round up the healthy people and keep track of those who became sick.

Except the sectors started falling apart too.

Your bro had told you what he knew of how the virus worked on people, and it was kind of gruesome. It essentially deteriorated the human body, and caused the nervous system to have convulsions. The overall physical stress caused people to grow volatile. Being around an infected person was dangerous enough, but if they could touch you, it was even worse. Infected people usually secreted a kind of mucus from their skin, the reason, like the rest of their biological components, was a mystery. With the frequent conniptions, it was pretty easy to get scratched up and start bleeding, and if one came into contact with the mucus, well, that pretty much was the death sentence.

Because of the way infection seemed to work, people could go from zero to one hundred in a matter of minutes. Like this, it was pretty impossible to tell who was infected and who wasn’t in the beginning. There were large outbreaks in the first couple of sectors, and as things got worse, the government finally decided to get serious. Over the next decade, the United States took extra precautions to ensure the virus didn't spread anymore. The country was split up into 10 sectors with usually three to six quarantine zones in each sector.  The sectors were divided so that there were two sectors per time zone, the border being geographically in the middle, as a fine, horizontal line.  The states in Pacific Time were home to Sectors 1 and 2, 3 and 4 belonged to the states in Mountain Time, States in Central Time owned Sectors 5 and 6, and last, but not least, all of the states in Eastern time had the lovely Sectors of 7 and 8. If you had heard right, Alaska had only one sector, Sector 9, as well as Hawaii, Sector 10. You were almost positive nobody has heard from either sectors in the last two years, since everything has been a bit of a handful over here.The more westward you went, the worse it got.Sectors 5-8 may not look the best and brightest, but almost everything in the Midwest and over was ruins and wasteland.

After hopping cities for over a year, you and your bro had finally settled in Zone Number 2 in sector 7, New York. The whole sector was a rather run down pig sty, but it was nothing compared to the conditions in the West.

Before your life became that of constantly moving from place to place, you had lived in Sector 6, in Texas. You don’t remember much, since you only lived there for six years of your life, the infection breaking out when you were four. All you can recall is that there was some kind of  “incident” two years later that motivated your bro to pack your guy’s shit up and get out of town, slowly traversing across the country, never staying in one zone for more than a year.

Every time you’ve asked him what happened, he gets a cold, serious expression and tells you not to worry about it. Yet, you still seem to have nightmares about it, whatever it was. You think it may have something to do with your parents, but you aren’t sure, you can’t remember them.

You shake your head to disperse the dark thoughts entering your mind, and run some fingers through your mess of curls. Back when you lived in Zone 5 in Illinois, you used to straighten your hair, but such luxurious chill time was unattainable with your ever so inconsistent lifestyle. You stand up and head back to your room, throwing on some black jeans, a red hoodie, and black converse shoes. There was no way you’d be able to get back to sleep with your stomach tying itself up into knots and your throat practically as dry as a desert, so you might as well walk it off. You grab your phone on your way out, closing the door apartment as quietly as you could. You knew your bro would be mad if he found you leaving by yourself, since he was a little more than paranoid about you getting hurt, but hey, how much harm could a small stroll be?

You continued your silent endeavors as you did your best not to make too much noise on the creaky stairs. The entire apartment complex wasn't exactly in tip top shape, and was probably going to collapse as soon as a bird landed on the wrong spot. There was a family of three living on the second floor and a couple living in the first. You and your bro lived on the third floor, since the other vacant room didn't have running water. Every other room was sealed shut by some sort of obstruction on the other side. That, or were too decrepit to occupy.

You exited the apartment complex, shutting the final door with a door knob too loose to actually work and stepped onto the dirty street. You weren't  sure where you wanted to go, but as long as you could clear your head, you didn't really care. Taking a left, you started down the street, glancing up at the flickering street lamps as you passed them. Most of them seemed to not be working at all, and didn't help to illuminate the dark crevices of the area. The night air was pretty cool too, the rain seeming to have just stopped before you left, and you almost considered ending your short adventure right then and there.

Until you heard a noise.

You froze. The noise sounded again, a little more agitated this time. You turned your head to the left, peering through the openings of the high, silver fence before you. Most zones were fenced, for protection of course, but that didn't stop you from envisioning it as a sort of prison ever since the sectors and zones were established and everything just generally went to shit. There was a low rustling in the darkness on the other side of the fence, and you thought you may have heard the clank of metal. You stood there silently, only accompanied by the beat of your heart and the flashing streetlight overhead. You probably waited for a good five minutes before you heard it again, the faint sound of metal hitting another solid surface.

That, and... someone talking?

Now things were definitely getting freaky. You knew that anyone outside of a fenced in zone was either infected or ballsy as hell, so the likelihood of a sane person being the one out there making noise was very small. Yet, it piqued your interest.

You probably weren't going back to sleep for awhile anyway. 

While you didn't get out too much, you had scoped out this zone enough that you knew every nook and cranny to it. You had thoroughly inspected every place you ever went to as you traveled across the country; it was a habit that you had picked up from your brother, and with the current situation of the century, you weren't about to let it drop anytime soon. It was due to this cautious habit that you knew that almost directly behind the blocks of wood leaning against the fence was a hole. It wasn't a very big hole, and certainly wasn't large enough for it to call any serious attention to it, otherwise it would have been fixed by now. It was, however, as wide as you would currently need it to be.

You looked around to make sure no one was nearby as your slowly moved the wooden blocks from the hole. The metal wires of the fence stuck out threateningly, but you dropped to the ground and started scooting yourself out, legs first, without a second thought. You couldn't let yourself think too much about what you were doing, or the incredible danger of it, otherwise you'd start having second thoughts.

After all, you were pretty ballsy.

It didn't take you long to get through the fence, but you did suffer a few painful pokes. Once you righted yourself on your feet again, you peered tentatively into the darkness. The light from the zone barely reached into the street, much less to the sidewalk and buildings on the other side. But you could hear it again, the rustling, and you could have sworn you heard someone mutter "fuck" before the noise quieted again.

Now you were definitely interested. There was no going back now.

You're glad you don’t have your shades on as you step into the dimly lit street before you, since it'd be even harder to see if you were wearing them. The noises were coming from the building in front of you, and it only took a couple of swift strides until you were standing right in front of it. It was a mess. There was no glass in the large display window in the front, and no front door to be found. The inside, too, from where you were standing, was in a similar state, with a few tipped over shelves and unidentifiable products littered in heaps all over the floor. This place was probably a convenience store before it got wrecked. Apparently that didn't stop scavengers like you and whoever else was in there from breaking into it.

You couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement as you trudge through the junk following the missing front door. You didn't do a lot of risky things, especially since your bro kept close tabs on you at all times. The place smelled about as good as it looked, which made the whole adventure even more appetizing. You do your best to not make any noises as you tip toe around clumps of trash. From the few flashy labels you could make out in the darkness, you guessed this place used to be a convenience store. Well, it wasn't so convenient anymore, was it? You were starting to think that maybe you mind was playing tricks on you and no one was actually inside this dump until you heard it, the scraping of what may have been cans on one of the metal shelves. It was clearer now, while still quiet, and was coming from behind the shelf in front of you. This was your only chance to go back, in case things started to get a bit sketchy and this was actually a terrible idea. Would you really choose abscond from this rare occasion?

Nah.

You held your breath as you stepped around the shelf, garbage crunching under your feet. You expected to either be disappointed and see it was just a rodent messing around with some cans, or, worst case scenario, an infected person trying to make their way to the front of the store but being too discombobulated to do so.

Instead, the small amount of moonlight shining in through an even smaller window in the convenience store fell on a rather healthy looking male.

Both of you stopped moving, stopped breathing, as your eyes met. From what you could make out, he had a mess of dark hair (you weren't sure what color) and matching dark eyes accessorized by even darker bags under them. He was wearing the biggest and probably comfiest looking sweater you had ever seen under a jacket vest with a hood. He was also wearing black cargo pants and combat boots, his gloved hands gripping a bag which he seemed to be in the middle of stuffing with cans. He stared at you, lips parted in surprise. You expression probably held just as much.

Neither of you budged until you heard him whisper a single word. It was so quiet you almost didn’t the “What the fuck?” as it left his lips.

“Dude, same.” You breathed, grinning. “What’re you doin’ out here? I doubt you’ll find anything useful in this waste of a place.”

You had started towards him when in one, swift movement, he stood straight up, a knife extended out in front of him and pointed ferociously at you. “Don’t come any closer or I swear I’ll fucking cut you!”

You stop in place, your hands coming up, palms open, by the side of your head. “Woah, man, I’m not gonna hurt ya.” You point to yourself, then towards where the fenced in area would appear to be if the two of you were outside. “Healthy as a horse, bro, ain’t got nothin’ going on over here. I’m from the zone next door.” You nod to him as you continue. “You’re not really safe out here, so pray tell, what the fuck do you think you’re doing? Are you outta your mind?”

He makes it very obvious that he is rolling his eyes along with the rest of his head as and retracts his arm and drops the knife into a pocket on his pants. “None of your business. Leave me alone.” He scoops up the half filled sack at his feet and turns to leave, but you catch his wrist before he can move. He turns quickly, reaching for his knife with his free hand, but you’re faster than him, and grab that one too.

“Woah there, easy.” He’s squinting at you in the darkness. Up close now, you can tell his skin seems to be quite tanned, although still lighter than your own darker tone. He’s also shorter than you, his head reaching your collarbone with the added height of his tangly mess of hair. Nice. “Where do you think you’re going? Door’s that way.” You jerk your head in the direction of the entrance. “Well, it was, now it’s just an opening, but you get what I mean.”

“I _get_ that I’d be really fucking _ecstatic_ if you let me go and pissed off.”

“Hey man buy a fella a drink before you start sweet talkin’ him.”

“Shut up you nosy piece of shit and unhand me.”

Now it’s your turn to roll your eyes. Dude just had to be difficult, didn’t he? “Bro, I don’t know where you’re planning’ on going’ but trust me, the zones are probably the safest.”

“Oh, _sure_ ,” He retorts bitterly, yanking his hands away from your weakened grasp.”Because if I want to keep my ass safe it’d be the best fucking decision of mine to make in my entire miserable excuse of a life to follow some creepy ass stranger into an equally creepy ass zone that he insists is _safe_.” He scoffs.” As _if_! Now if you’ll _excuse_ me I’d like to get on with said miserable excuse of a life and I’m absolutely _certain_ that’d it be a damn whole lot safer for you to get on with yours.”

“You’ve gone and stolen my heart, along with whatever else you’re crammin’ into that bag of yours.” You deadpan, shoving your hands into the pockets of your hoodie. Seems your shades are in there. “Look, man, at least there’s a fence around this zone, and despite its rubbish-esque decor, is probably gonna keep you from getting infected a lot better than you would be on your own. Which this place, might I add, has way worse decor. Like damn they could have did this place up a little more but it looks down right terrible I mean did you see the-”

“No, you look, ‘man’, while I appreciate your incredibly unwanted and unnecessary concern it is- and i say this with all the compassion in my heart- unwanted and unnecessary. So thanks, but no thanks.” You see him roll his eyes again as he turns to leave once more. As much as people thought otherwise, you could take a hint, and you thought you might as well leave this guy alone. If the little angry dude would rather be bouncing around out here among the less fortunate, then who were you to stop him? Wasn’t really your problem to begin with anyway, he was just right and you were, and will probably continue to be, nosy as fuck.

“Can I at least get your name?” You call out after his rapidly retreating figure.

“Like hell you can.” He replies, then he’s gone.

Well that was the most interesting exchange you’ve had in awhile.

You suppose you’ll probably forget the conversation after awhile, so it isn’t really worth dwelling on. You hope that guy manages to stay alive a little longer, whatever misadventure he may be enjoying. You turn to leave as well, trying your best to remember where to avoid especially big obstacles, and right after exiting the dilapidated convenience store, you noted the low murmur of commotion in the distance.

It was coming from inside the zone. There was also the faint smell of smoke. You bolt to the unchanged hole in the fence, quickly climbing through, and make a mad dash for your apartment. You have no idea what’s happening, why there is suddenly a lot of confused looking people lining the streets… did a firetruck just drive by? The closer you get to your apartment, the denser the amount of people outside their homes with their nightclothes on and kids holding stuffed animals starts to get. Your heart is pounding, your head swirling with all kinds of fearful ideas and scenarios. You hope nothing bad has really happened and you're just freaking out over a minor occurrence that always happens in this zone. Something that happens enough to make people nervous and file out of their homes to see what’s up but it’s no biggie, nothing worth getting up in the middle of the night and a firetruck, not really.

Just as you arrive at your destination, though, you realize how wrong you are.

You apartment has been set ablaze, yellow, hot flames curling and crushing every corner and edge, and you can see it slowly collapsing as the fire eats away at it. Your senses are assaulted by the smell of smoke and ash, and your vision becomes blurry as your eyes water. Your nauseous, your eyes hurt from the intensity of the burning building, and you can barely breathe, but that doesn’t stop one thing from coming to the front of your mind and that is _where is your fucking brother?_  A small crowd had gathered in a ring a safe distance away from your apartment, and you can barely hear your own thoughts with the amount of chatter and officers barking at people to get back. You do your best not to trip over yourself as you approach someone in the back of the crowd and smack their arm to get their attention. They flinch and look at you, startled and slightly annoyed, but you couldn’t care less as you shout the only words you can piece together in your stupor. “Who made it out?!”

The person blinks, probably considering if they should even dignify your rude ass with an answer, but speak up, much to your relief. You did not want to have to smack someone else. Of course, your relief is short lived as the person answers. “Only the couple on the first floor escaped. I don’t know what happened, but it seems all the other exits were blocked when things started to really get bad. No one else living inside has gotten out.”

You can only stare at the stranger in horror, mouth agape. Only the couple on the first floor escaped. Your bro and you lived on the third floor. Bro was asleep on the third floor. All the windows on that floor were sealed shut, and the fire escape was a long lost dream. You know, because you and your bro had checked when you two first moved to the shitty place. You know you had checked thrice by yourself.

Now the only other person in the entire world who had done their damndest to take care of you and keep you out of harm’s way was no longer living in it.

Your apartment had been destroyed, your family was dead, and since you had just recently moved to this zone there was not a single person you could turn to for help, for safety, for _comfort_.

You were entirely on your own now, with nothing but the clothes on your back, your phone, and a pair of old shades from a distant memory. A memory of better times.


	2. Chapter 2

Your ass hurts.

That’s the first, albeit comical, thought that entered your head when you opened your eyes. When you lift your head and take in your surroundings though, a sense of dread starts to settle.

After standing in front of your smouldering apartment for what seemed like hours, up until the very last flame died out and the crowd has dispersed. You had reluctantly left it behind, trudging aimlessly through the empty streets. You can’t really recall your earlier decision to sit down on the concrete, pull your knees up to your chest, and take a small snooze against the border fence, but here you were, cold fingers and even colder ass, which was sore from sitting in the same position for so long.

The morning light has started to stream into the area, the sky a mockingly warm peach color. You pull your shades out of the pocket of your hoodie and slip them on, weighing the worth of moving from your spot. You decide there’s really no point. Where would you go? You suppose you could rent out a new apartment, but you also lacked the money to do so. Even when the country was in such a shit state of affairs, and an economy was no where to be found, people still wanted you to pay a dime or two for some provisions. You had almost nothing, much less dimes. A dime would be an incredible blessing to you right now. It didn’t even have to be a dime, just _something_ that would motivate you, because right now, you were pretty much at the bottom of the barrel in terms of reason and purpose.

“This fucking sucks.” You say to the flushed sky. “I dare space and time to make it any worse. I’ll gamble with the cosmos on this shit man do not test me I have literally nothing to lose-”

“Who the fuck are you talking to?”

You turn around with a start, and to your surprise, meet face to face with the bitter pillager from last night, standing on the other side of the fence. Now with more light to help you out, you can see that he has hazel colored eyes and chestnut brown hair. His skin was brown, make his overall demeanor seem warm. Well it would be, if he wasn’t glowering at you like you just kicked him the shin.

You rise, not comfortable with looking up at him, and shrug. “Fate, destiny, whatever tickles your fancy.” You shove your hands into the pocket of your hoodie, tilting your head. “Surprised to see you though. Figured you would’a skipped town by now, considering how eager you were to leave last night.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t have enough supplies to keep moving.” He grumbles, crossing his arms. “What are you doing out here anyway? Don’t you have some obnoxious business to attend to?”

“Hell if I know.” You reply, and raise an eyebrow at him. “Who’s we?”

“You still didn’t tell me what you were doing.”

“Do you need to know?”

“You got to barge in on my shit last night so now it’s my turn to do the same. Answer the question.”

You heave a sigh. This person was clearly the type you’d just have to go along with and hope the conversation wouldn’t take an embarrassing turn. “Alright, whatever. I ain’t really got anywhere to stay so that’s why I’m here.”

The boy behind the fence eyes you suspiciously, but his expression seems to soften a little. “You don’t have a...guardian or something to take care of you?”

“Nope.” You say, trying to not let the pain in your chest get to you too much. Both of you fall into silence. He seems to be contemplating something, as his lips are pursed and his eyebrows are furrowed. You wonder what he’s thinking, but don’t have to wait too long to find out. 

“Do you want to come with me?” He asks, looking up at you. To say you were stunned at his question is an extreme understatement, but you try not to let it show on your face.

Unfortunately, the only clear and comprehensible answer you can come up with is “Uh, what?”

He narrows his eyes at you. “Do you want to come with me?”

“Yeah dude I heard you, but...why?”

The boy seems to be regretting his decision to ask you now as he deepens his scowl and goes on to explain. “I’m with a group of people. There are currently seven of us. None of us really have a home, so, we’ve been travelling together so we have a better chance of not dying.” He uncrosses his arms and gestures to you as he speaks. “You can come with us, if you want. I don’t see any point of living in that shitty hellhole your standing in anyway.” He crosses his arms again, content with his elaboration. “So you want in or not?”

You hum in response as you think. Your options were to either follow this dude into the unknown or try to scrounge up some sort of living in this “hellhole”. While going outside of the safe zones did seem like an ominous idea…

You literally had nothing to lose.

“Sure. I’ll come with you.” You answer, giving the boy a crooked grin. His shoulders seem to slump a bit, as if he were hoping you’d say no, and he turns away from you shaking his head.

“Fantastic.” He says sarcastically. “Now get your ass out here, I’m on a tight schedule.”

“You took time out of your schedule to recruit lil’ ol’ me? Aw, you’re too sweet.”

“Shut up before I leave you here.”

Fortunately, in your stupor last night you had wandered to rest near the hole in the fence, so it wouldn’t take you long to meet up with him. You hadn’t returned the blocks to their original spot when you had returned, so all you had to do was drop down, wiggle through the hole, and stand upright again.

Dusting yourself off a bit as you two started walking, you realized you didn’t even know the guy’s name. “Say, I didn’t catch your name, what is it?”

Your new acquaintance didn’t answer for awhile. You almost repeated your question, but he eventually mumbled quietly“Karkat.”

You smiled at what you considered a small victory. “Nice to meet ya Karkat, name’s Dave. Dave Strider.” He said nothing in reply, just sped up so that he was a few paces in front of you.

Things from here on out were sure to get interesting.

 

~

 

“Karkat! I’m so glad you’re back I was starting to-”

After about 10 minutes of following Karkat through the desolation that surrounded Zone 2, you two had entered a townhouse by means of a hidden opening, no doubt created by whatever group of survivors Karkat was travelling with to who knows where. After he led you through various traps that were probably created to ward off any unwanted visitors, you both had reached the second floor, two other people already occupying the room.

While there were a variety of bags and other items that hinted at it currently being lived in, the furniture in the room, which consisted of a couch and an armchair, were covered in plastic, and the wooden desk accompanied by a wooden chair were crammed into the nearest corner and painted in dust. There was a coffee table in the middle of the room in front of the couch, which held a map and a few cups. Looks like you and your new buddy just walked in on tea time.

The two other people in the room consisted of a lady with ebony skin and short black hair that came into two tendrils around the side of her face. The other person’s face you couldn’t see, as their head is craned to look out of the dirt-covered window, but you note that they have blonde hair cut into a curly bob. From the looks of their hands neatly folded in their lap, their skin seems to be as dark as Karkat’s. The first lady was already halfway across the room, glancing between you and Karkat questioningly.

“I assumed you were going out to find supplies but I see you’ve brought back something a bit more animate.”

You know he’s probably making the most bitter expression to grace mankind, even though you’re behind him and can only see the back of his head. “I’m just following the few fucking rules we established in our little frivolous brigade, alright? Excuse me for extending a charitable hand to some douchebag sitting on his ass looking a little too pitiful.”

Now it’s your turn to join the gabby group. “Hey man, this douchebag has a name.”

He gives you a narrowed glare and huffs. “Well I’m sorry, _Dave Strider_ -”

“There ya go.”

“-seems to be in a similar situation to ours, so I thought I’d bring him along.” He waves his hand in dismissal, probably holding himself back from letting on how much he was having qualms about bringing you here.”Anyway, I didn’t find jack shit while I was out, so there.”

Just then, the figure whipped their head around to look at the three of you. Their eyes met yours, or rather your shades, and both of you were fucking floored.

“Holy shit.”

“Ditto.”

“Doth my eyes deceive me or is that really my bumbling idiot of a brother standing before me?” Rose got up from the couch, lips curling into a smile. You honestly couldn’t believe it yourself. You hadn’t seen her in ages, since you were five. You can just barely recall Bro telling you that her mom and your dad were married for a good three years before getting a divorce, which in that time her mother had given birth to the both of you (you two were fraternal twins.) You don’t really remember who your dad got together with, since it was only another three years of your infant life, and all the time after that the only parental figure you had to depend on was your older brother. You’re still not entirely sure how him and you are related, but you always went with it.

Now, after like, sixteen years, Rose was standing in front of you in a pseudo-camp for The Lost Boys. You make a sweeping gesture with both of your hands, giving her a lopsided smile. “In the flesh.” 

Both Karkat and the other girl are looking from you to Rose, surprise clearly showing on their faces. And why wouldn’t they be? Even you didn’t expect to see your sister for maybe the rest of your entire life, considering you could count the times you’d seen her on one hand. The only reason the two of you were able to recognize each other was because somewhere along the way Bro got into contact with her and her mother and you had gotten Rose’s phone number, and you guys had skyped a few times when you both had internet connection. You hadn’t heard from her in the last two years though, so it was quite the shock finding her here.

She looked you over and the corners of her eyebrows twitched up, making her expression look a little sympathetic. “Since you’re here, I’m guessing that Bro is…?”

You fight to keep a smile on your face, even though you can feel that ache in your chest again. “Yeah.” is all you can say in reply. 

“I’m so sorry.” Rose says, touching your shoulder gently.

You shrug, shaking your head a bit. “Old man was bound to kick the bucket someday anyway.”

“Hold on a moment, you two are related?” The black haired lady interjects softly.

“Oh my, pardon me.” Rose smiles at her and gestures to you. “This is my brother Dave.”

“Sup.”

Rose turns to you and tilts her head towards the lady next to her. “Dave, this is Kanaya. I see you’ve already met Karkat. There are a few others that are in our group , but as of now, they are out looking for supplies. I’ll introduce you to them too once they return.”

“Well, it is nice to meet you Dave.” Kanaya says, extending a hand to you. Even though handshaking really isn’t your thing, you  shake her hand anyway.

“The pleasure’s mine.” You say.

“Well, now that the grotesquely intimate family reunion is over we can get back to business.” Karkat announces. “Have you guys heard from anyone else?”

“I’m afraid not. Before you showed up, Rose and I were discussing whether or not we should go out and look for everyone.” Kanaya’s eyebrows furrow in concern. “Even though we have not had much trouble since we arrived in New York, I would still be cautious. The amount of time we agreed upon before going to look for missing members is twenty minutes past. I’m seriously starting to worry.”

“Woah, hey, how long’ve you guys been in New York?” You interrupt.

“Only for about two weeks, though, we’ve only been in this building for a few days.” Kanaya replies, then turns her attention back to Karkat. “It’s a good thing you brought a friend along, because now I am able to suggest we break up into pairs to seek out everyone.”

“We’re not friends.” Karkat grunts, but Kanaya ignores the comment.

“Rose and I will check as to where our self-proclaimed leader went off to, as well as her partner are, and you can go check for the others.”

“You’re really pairing me up with this shady asshole?”

“Damn, Karkat, I didn’t know you were the pun master.”

“Oh my fuck shut _up_.”

“I assume you are referring to your encounter last night that has given you such a negative impression of him?” Kanaya seems to be fighting off a smirk, considering you all were supposed to be making plans to go scout out the rest of the squad, but it was obvious that she was starting to find your guy’s banter a little amusing.

“Karkat what the shit man you’re not supposed to kiss and tell. That’s like, against every single part of the Bro Code.”

“What the fuck is the Bro Code?”

“Man you sure didn’t get the memo ‘cause you’re breakin’ all kinds of Bro Code laws up in here.”

Karkat lets out an exasperated sigh, choosing to overlook your facetious comment about the Bro Code in attempt to continue the talk of more pressing matters. “Ugh, whatever, let’s just go, I can already feel the headache I’m sure to get in no time.”

“I couldn’t agree more. Let’s go.” Rose concludes the meeting authoritatively, motioning towards the stairs to get everyone moving along.

“About fucking time.” Karkat groans, and you two had left the building just as quickly as you had entered it.

You let Karkat take the lead again, since he seemed to know where the whereabouts of the other two mystery members. Even if someone had told you where they were, you weren’t really familiar with these parts since they were outside of the zone. You were only interested in inspecting your living area, never the death hazard around it. That was asking for a little too much. Yet here Karkat was, and his friends no less, roaming the world for whatever reason.

You decide that you’ll have to ask about that once everyone has regrouped.

Karkat and you are picking your way through some rubble when you try to break the silence. “So, Karkat, how long has it been since ya’ll got together?”

“No. No, you’re not going to start talking when you’ve already been so spectacularly quiet this much of the trip. Don’t start. Do not do it.”

“Aww, come on, we’ve yet to have a single, satisfying conversation since we’ve met, dude.” You fall into step next to him after the path before you is more or less clear. “If I’m gonna be with you for the rest of however long you guys are gonna keep this up, we should at least be on polite speaking terms.”

“Doesn’t mean you get free fucking access to my personal life and backstory.” Karkat growls, trying to speed ahead of you, but your long strides allow you to keep up with him.

“Fair enough.” You step out of the way of a broken down car, half of it obscuring the sidewalk you and Karkat were walking on, and accidentally bump into him. He elbows you in the side until you’re no longer touching him, and you have to fight to keep your expression passive. “How ‘bout this then: what’s your favorite season?”

“Season?” Karkat squints at you. “...Fall, I guess.”

“Sweet.” You hum, stuffing your hands into the pockets of your jeans. The sun had risen a bit more since the time you woke up, but it was still a somewhat cool outside. There is silence between you two and your mind starts to wander, only pulled back when Karkat speaks up again.

“What about you?”

“Huh?”

“You’re favorite season you daft numbskull, what is it?”

“Winter.”

“...That’s nice.”

You chuckle. Maybe this shorty was going to be a little more agreeable than previously perceived. You’re about to ask another question as the two of you round a corner, but Karkat’s yanks your arm and pulls you down behind another abandoned car on the side of the road. You make a rather undignified noise of surprise as your graceful ass hits the concrete, and you’re about to chew Karkat out when he clamps a hand over your mouth. You pry a few fingers to uncover your lips. “Hey small stuff, you’re gettin’ to the touching a little quick there-”

“Shut the fuck up.” He hisses. His eyes are trained on something on the other side of the car, but you can’t really see with your butt on the ground and karkat practically holding you in a headlock against his chest.

A’ight well this escalated quickly.

You slowly move to your knees, nodding slightly at Karkat when he glances at you to let him know you’re not going to say anything. You raise an eyebrow at him in question of what he’s looking at, and he points a tentative finger.

You turn, and almost scream. Almost.

Across the street, there are three mangled figures pawing and scratching at a pair of tightly sealed double doors. It doesn’t take you too long to realize why Karkat’s suddenly on stealth mode: those three figures are infected, and are after whatever or _whoever_ is on the other side of those doors.

“That’s the location of the people we’re looking for.” Karkat whispers, his voice suddenly very close to your ear. Soft puffs of his breath are grazing your skin, and you try to keep yourself from flinching instinctively. “If we’re going to go look for them, we’re going to have to get through there.

Well. Shit.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> suspense i guess :-)


End file.
